Uncharted: Joe Carnahan’s Script Uses the Games As a ‘Template’

Video game adaptations have a bad rap in Hollywood, and it’s not hard to see why. There has yet to be a financially and critically successful film adaptation of a popular game, even despite the industry putting them out fairly regularly for multiple decades now. With that being said, there are a number of video game adaptations in the works that each look like they could break the Hollywood curse. Whether it be the Alicia Vikander-led Tomb Raiderfilm, or the Shawn Levy-directed Unchartedadaptation, there seems to always be at least a little bit of hope in the video game community that the entertainment industry might finally get it right one of these days.

The Uncharted film has been in the works for over a decade now, with multiple different filmmakers and actors signing on and then dropping off of the project throughout the years. But ever since Joe Carnahan — known for his talent at creating visceral, crazy action films — was brought on to write the script, it’s appeared as though some real progress was finally being made to bring the adventures of Nathan Drake and his friends to the big screen.

Carnahan hasn’t been quiet about the excitement he feels toward thescript that he wrote for the film over these past few months either. Speaking with Coming Soon, Carnahan talked briefly about how he tried to avoid ripping off the Indiana Jonesfranchise, and how closely he tried/didn’t try to stick to the story of the games themselves:

“[“Raiders of the Lost Ark”] is still arguably my favorite movie of all-time, but it was necessary to create those distinctions. I think Amy Hennig did it when she wrote the game. She made Drake very much an anti-Indiana Jones, you know? Don’t forget, for that first game after that pirate attack, Drake and Sully leave Elena behind, they dump her. Indiana Jones would never do something like that. That’s a rogue act, so she was declaring very early on who that guy was. He was not Jones, he was not to be confused with that guy.

I probably wrote four of the biggest, f***in’ craziest action sequences I think I’ve ever written in that movie. I used the “Uncharted” games as a template but not using any one specifically, because those sequences have already been done beautifully. There’s no point in just transposing them to film, you’ve gotta come up with new sh*t, so that’s what I did. It was a great challenge but it was a lot of fun.”

Carnahan has always seemed like a strong choice to write the script for an Uncharted film, and these quotes continue to back up that sentiment. His excitement toward the franchise and property may be exactly what the Uncharted film needs to finally come out of development limbo. Similarly, Shawn Levy has emerged as one of the more exciting filmmakers and producers working today, after producing not only the Academy Award-nominated Arrivallast year, but also Netflix’s smash hit new series, Stranger Things.

Levy’s experience in the industry should make him a suitable filmmaker to put together Uncharted, especially as fans wait to see which actor he and the rest of the film’s creative team choose to play Nathan Drake. He’s been one of the most popular fan-casted characters for multiple years now, and with actors like Nathan Fillion and Bradley Cooper all emerging as popular choices, it should be interesting to see who ends up landing the coveted role. No matter who ends up getting it, though, there’s no denying that Uncharted will end up being one of the most-anticipated video game adaptations in history — whenever it’s released anyway.